Adjusting to Mission Life!

Hey everybody!  So, second P day in the field!

Lets start with the language. So far, it is still pretty tough! I am a little bit different than most missionaries, I can speak Portuguese better than I can understand it. But, thats not to say Im good at speaking yet! I can bear my testimony, pray, talk about myself, teach lots of gospel topics, etc. But once someone asks me a question, I just turn and look at my companion for help. Its frustrating at times, but its not too bad. I know this is something that all missionaries learning a language go through, its not suppose to be easy to learn! Im improving more and more every week, and i know its only a matter of time before I get the hang of it!

My companion is Elder ONeill from North Carolina, and he is awesome. we get along so well with everything. He is a hard worker and is doing a great job training me. Im actually his first American companion and he has been out over a year! But im glad i got put with him, hes great. also, his little brother left on his mission the same day as me, and he is serving in the Salt Lake City South mission (Spanish speaking), my home mission! So for everyone back home, look for an Elder ONeill!

So, a couple of things about the mission field so far. My first area is the Santana area in Aracatuba, in the state of Sao Paulo. First, it is always so hot here. I am constantly sweating, and we have to walk a lot out here! I have the east side of the city, and so we have some rural areas. But, at least it is pretty dry here unlike other part of Brazil, so I am grateful for that. My typical meal schedule out here is for breakfast, I have crackers and milk, then around noon I go to a members house and have lunch, which is always good. Brazilian food is awesome! Then for dinner I have top ramen type stuff, just the Brazilian brand of it. The area I am in is apparently one of the hardest areas to be in the whole mission as far as teaching lessons, getting baptisms, stuff like that. So we do a lot of street contacting and clapping doors.

So this week we got 2 awesome investigators from doing this! Both are around my age, they are Alex and Mourilho. Alexs mom passed away 3 months ago, and Mourilho has big physical problems, because he was shot 7 times! Because of that, his right leg is shorter than his left so he can barely walk. When we met him he said that he is just starting from scratch. Both of their first lessons went good, my companion and I decided to start teaching them the Plan of Salvation to start. The Spirit was definitely there during the lessons, and we could see that they had an interest afterward. Although both of them have had these super bad things happen to them, Im so excited to continue to teach them and see the difference the gospel can make in their lives.

That's about it for me. Just adjusting to missionary life in general and still trying to get into the swing of things, but I like it out here! Have a great week everyone!!

 -Elder Odom